Prescribing Pattern and Errors in the Prescriptions for Outpatients with Diabetes Mellitus at a Nigerian University Health Centre

Background: Findings have revealed that prescribing errors are increasingly common in diabetes mellitus drug therapy mainly because of polypharmacy. An important way to tackle this problem is through regular prescription auditing. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the prescribing pattern of prescriptions received from outpatients with diabetes mellitus at a Nigerian University Health Centre and identify prescribing errors in the prescriptions. Methods: Across-sectional study of prescriptions from outpatients who visited the Main Pharmacy of Obafemi Awolowo University Health Centre between January 28, 2020, and March 18, 2020, was conducted. The study included prescriptions for patients covered by the National Health Insurance Agency (NHIA) and contained orders for at least one medication for diabetes mellitus. Drug information and patient demographics were assessed for prescribing patterns and errors. Descriptive statistical analysis of the data was carried out using Microsoft Excel 2010. Results: Atotal of 261 prescriptions containing at least one anti-diabetic medication were studied. All the patients were described as 'adults' but the exact ages were not indicated on the prescriptions. The medications were mostly prescribed in their brand names and metformin was the most prescribed drug either alone or in combination with other antidiabetic agents. A small percentage (4.2%) of the prescriptions had prescribing errors, a total of 11 in them. These errors included medication strength omissions, incorrect dosage, and therapy duration omissions. Conclusions: We identified 11 prescribing errors from the outpatient prescriptions used in this study. Most times, these errors were identified by the clinical pharmacists on duty and were resolved either by communicating with the prescribers or using their professional discretion.